


all things must come to an end

by Elhadeur



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Other, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 18:25:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11213700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elhadeur/pseuds/Elhadeur
Summary: There was/is/will be no other Marked like Corvo.





	all things must come to an end

Corvo, the greatest of all His Marked, His most favoured, has finally passed from his Realm into the Void’s. His spirit arrives sitting on the side of the boat where they’d set sail his body to the sea as he wanted in his will. Emily watched as the boat sank under the horizon and into the darkness of the sea. It lands on the jagged shore of the void.

The Outsider walks over to Corvo and His Marked turns to look at Him.

“I thought the greatest Royal Protector would rather be buried with the rest of the Kaldwin line. Instead you came here.”

“I wanted to thank you for the last time and return your mark but I don’t know how so I offer you this.” Corvo says as he gestures to his body.

He is dressed in the deepest of blues, his sword at his side and his mask held to his chest by his marked hand. The white roses at his side are in full bloom but slowly wilt due to the void’s pressure.

The Outsider doesn’t understand Corvo at all. He only takes what is given and offers so much more in return. He lets the void flow around him and never tries to comprehend and just lets things go wherever it may. It does work out in his favour though since trying to understand the void is what wastes away the mind of many other Marked.

“I wanted to see you again too. I’m not sure if I’ll ever see you again so I had to this one last time.”

The Outsider feels something in him drop and it’s a heavy weight that lingers on after. He knows he will miss Corvo when he’s gone and that knowledge doesn’t it make it any easier.

“I could keep you here, to linger for all eternity once the appropriate container for your soul is made.”

Corvo chuckles in a way that pulls at the center of the Outsider, “But You won’t because You know how miserable it’d make me. There comes a point where things can’t continue any further. I’ve lived my life fully _and_ managed to keep you entertained more than once. What more would you want from me?”

The Outsider is quiet for some time, studying the wrinkles and scars of Corvo’s face framed by the long silver hair that he’d grown out in his retirement, mulling around the words in his thoughts before allowing himself this. “I will miss you, Corvo. You are after all the most fascinating of my Marked, even till now. You are someone that I had surprisingly been able to call a friend.”

His friend’s grin is broad in pure happiness. “We may meet again Outsider. We will.”

The Outsider is pulled into a hug and Corvo whispers to him, “Goodbye Outsider, my dear friend.” A few moments after the Outsider hugs back, arms around broad shoulders, Corvo, His Marked that had given him the most fascinating show of his lifetime, His dear Corvo, fragments into glowing whale oil blue and dissipates into the Great Nothingness.

A drowning feeling surrounds Him and the leviathans in the void swim through the abyss to gather at the shore where Corvo’s body rests and mourns with such intensity that it reverberates though the Void. It echoes just as strongly in the Realm.

Empress Emily only turns away from where she is by the sea when she hears the whalesong rumble in her bones and grip at her heart. Her father had reached his penultimate destination and the great beyond after.

The whalesong continues for two more days. The Empress stops all whaling activities for then and the following week out of a respect for the mourning of her father. The song brings a grief that echoes along the Isles. In Tyvia, auroras bleed blue and purple. In Morley, stars fall from the night sky. In Serkonos, Shindaeraey Peak has gone quiet, a moment of silence for the Leviathan’s loss and the loss of a great man born in her isle. In Gristol, the Empress of an empire, a mother to two, the daughter of her first Royal Protector, weeps. 

There will never be another man that kept the Isles in balance like Corvo did. The Outsider is the only one that will ever know.

 

* * *

 

The Outsider sits on the edge of the boat as he sails deeper into the void, guides the boat to a resting place near to where He Became. It lands on the shore of a small floating isle, the stone reaching out to meet the boat, keeping it in place.

The Outsider forms an altar for his friend, purple cloth wisps together from the void to cover the altar, pale driftwood form a cradle for Corvo's head and the Outsider places his only friend's body in the center of it. Clear water spills from the bottom of the island and flows upward forming shimmering curtains. He knows the water tastes like salt.

The Outsider is not allowed to cry so this, he thinks, will suffice.

 

* * *

 

Time passes but the void is ageless, more than ancient. Corvo's body looks the same as when he came, perfectly preserved in the void. Corvo is soaked in the energy of the Void and of the Outsider from all the years of being Marked. From his bones, the most powerful runes and charms could be made, a swallow of flesh could grant a man two lifetimes, from his heart, a container able to hold more of the Void's power than any Marked has tried/will try. But, the Outsider does not do any of this.

Instead, the Outsider marks others. A young Tyvian girl who becomes an unmatched warrior in the Isles, a pair of twins a year after their induction to the Abbey, an old man who cheats death thrice and continues to gamble...

They only keep his attention for a few years.

 

* * *

 

In the time between meeting His Marked, He finds himself spending more and more time at Corvo's altar. He claims and claims and claims with his mark because Corvo is _His_ and how dare Corvo leave Him for the Great Nothingness. The Outsider reaches out past the flesh, seeps out the Void from his body and personally carves His mark onto the length of Corvo's bones with his fingertips until the bones are black with overlapping lines and rich with Him and His power. He'll not have the Void take over what is His.

He is sure that if his body were ever cut, it would bleed black with the Outsider's name in every drop.

 

* * *

 

The Marked come. They go. They pass into the Great Nothingness beyond the Void after the Void consumes the chaos they’ve bred. Only one unMarked has sparked his interest after and it was because she dreamt and slipped through the cracks between realms and found herself at his resting place.

He only notices her when he goes back to the altar and sees her sitting at the edge of the island beside the boat and swinging her feet. She’s nine, only a child and she’s not Marked but she understands the way the Outsider goes quiet when she mentions “You lost someone too...” She pats the space beside her and the Outsider obliges for her. Once he’s settled, she leans on his shoulder deciding He’s nice enough not to harm her.

He recalls her parents murdered in the middle of a gang fight and all other relatives hid themselves from her or threw her out because she’s another mouth to feed. She’s a child but she had to learn the ways of the streets from so young and things shouldn’t be like this. She shouldn’t be here in this endless and dark cold leaning on a Void-made god to both seek and offer comfort. And yet, He still pats her curly black hair and sits there until her eyes begin to close and her breathing slows down, she’s waking up in the Realm. A tendril of the Void reaches up from below about to curl around her but the Outsider opens a pathway and slides her through back into her dream before it could grab at her and pull her down into the maw of the abyss.

There are many more futures for her to go down. So much more to lose but also so much more to gain if she makes the right choices. If she remembers this visit, He is not sure. There is no future of hers where she mentions Him.

(She never forgets the black-eyed stranger that soothed her in her dream. It’s a lesson that if the so-called evil god could offer her, a small girl who was always thrown away, comfort if she offered it first. It’s an awfully humbling thought that she had offered Him comfort, a god, and He accepted it and offered it in return. She practices this lesson with those she deems safe enough to offer until it become second nature and more about helping others than being helped in return.

She lives a long life with a family of her own and a small group of close friends. It’s more than she had imagined at nine years old but she’s thankful.)

 

* * *

 

A time comes when the Outsider feels a shifting in the Void. Something is not right and panic grows within Him. The Void gives Him a warning…

**YOU ARE THE OUTSIDER NO LONGER**

…carved into the altar where his blood ran out and He knows His time is up.

He withdraws His mark from everything. Every rune, every bone charm goes blank and the singing is silenced. The last Leviathan of the Realm hangs in a slaughterhouse and the Outsider gives it mercy by ending its suffering by sending his Marked there as a final mission before taking all their marks away too.

The last Leviathan of the Void sees the Void devouring everything, hissing and cackling as its shape changes and tentacles reach out from under a shroud of black to reform and welcome its new emissary. The outsider, now true in title in both realms, melts into his friend's last gift and controls flesh again for the first time in seven millennia. He uses the void's power to open up a crack before he casts it all away to the shroud to ensure that the Void will not come looking for him. He escapes into the abyss between realms.

 

* * *

 

The outsider washes up on the shore next to the skeletons of beached whales in the aftermath of a calamity. The sea seeps with the Void before it recedes with a new entity in place.

It takes him some time to get used to a flesh body, the wind is cold against his wet skin and he is born again for the third time in a way he never expected. His body aches as it shifts, bones reform, his skin tightens and his hair he feels tickling his shoulders. He sees a small village on a hill and it's seemingly unharmed by the calamity. Some figures shout out at him but he cannot respond and falls down from exhaustion. A familiar voice reaches his ears and he wants to believe he's in the Great Nothingness if the voice really is what he remembers so he strains himself to focus but he faints instead.

A dark room greets him when he wakes up and he notices a mirror across from the bed so he sits up to study his features.

His skin is pale white instead of tan, his hair is still black as ink instead of dark brown and his eyes are the bright blue of whale oil and not the dark brown of Corvo. He is much much younger and probably looks like Corvo the few years before the Blade Verbena. But his age right now reminds him of the age he was when he was born the second time. It seems like his time in the Realm will continue from when it was last cut off.

He pulls aside his coat and sees all the scars Corvo's received in his life and the only new addition is a thin jagged slash across his throat.

Creaking, the door opens and a young man walks in with some food and water. The outsider feels his heart is gripped tightly and his eyes well with tears.

"It looks like you're up, are you feeling better?"

Barely, the outsider nods even as it makes the tears spill over because he can _feel_ and he can _cry_ for the first time in millennia. There's so much to think about and have feelings about and it's all overwhelming but his eyes stay on this Corvo and he breathes in. This youth is not and never will be the Corvo he lost, but, this boy is alive and he can befriend him again and protect him. He breathes out but a few sobs are released instead.

The youth understands that he has experienced such a great loss that he'll need time to cope so he moves closer and pulls up the edge of a blanket to wipe away the other's tears. They only fall harder when the outsider studies him.

"What is your name? Mine's Corvo." The words almost choke in his throat but he manages one word. It's a name he'd almost forgotten in its disuse but it's the only thing he has of his own now.

"Kier." 

A knock at the door before it opens. A woman dressed in rough cotton smelling of herbs and spices walks in and is shocked. The boy in the guest room bed looks almost exactly like her son save for his colouring and his eyes and her heart aches at seeing some of the scars and bruises on this poor boy.

She introduces herself as Paloma, Corvo's mother, and Kier tells her his name and thanks her for the room and food despite how hard food may come. She tells him that it's okay, there’s no need to worry. The room has been unused for months and food has never been a problem in the town and she sees this boy tremble in every movement he makes and her heart aches. Corvo notices his shaky hand and holds it with a steady grip. Kier turns towards Corvo with a grateful look and squeezes his hand in thanks.

Corvo's mother asks, "Do you remember what happened?"

"There... There was a huge wave that crashed into the ship I was on and I woke up washed up on the beach nearby. I don't know where I was headed but I know I'm finally free." There's more truth in his lie than he thought.

His admission leaves them balking, they think on what he said and sees his scars and comes to the conclusion that he was a child sold into slavery with cruel disgusting masters and then shipwrecked to reach here. Kier can guess what they're thinking but he’s not sure. Losing the ability to read minds has him feeling vulnerable, it has him blurt out, "Please don't throw me away."

Frowning, Corvo and his mother steel themselves to help this poor boy. Kier is far too hurt and far too weak to do anything. Paloma looks at her son and the pleading expression he has is the same as Kier when looks at her too. It’s haunting how alike they look but it’s the same reason the thought of letting Kier to fend for himself doesn’t even come up in her mind.

“Kier, child, don’t worry. You can stay with us for as long as you need.”

Kier’s smile is small but full of gratitude and the shakiest “thank you” comes out. The moment is interrupted with some grumbles from Kier’s stomach and Paloma chuckles while excusing herself to give him some privacy. Corvo passes him some soup with what looks like white fish and some herbs and it’s heavy in his hands. It’s so so warm and the sensations interest him. Without the Void numbing his emotions and feelings, his senses feel raw and new but not unwelcome.

A small table is pushed up to Kier’s side with his water and Kier puts the bowl on the table, careful not to spill. The heat lingers on his hands and he wonders what that feeling would be like all over. Corvo puts the cup of water on the table and makes his way to the door but Kier stops him before he leaves.

“Corvo,” the name falls so easily from his tongue like it always has, “will you eat with me too?”

“Sure, let me get my food and I’ll be right back.” Corvo reassures him with a smile and Kier doesn’t have to imagine the warmth all over.

As Corvo leaves, Kier lets his thoughts take over. The Void cast him out and the only power he has left is in his bones and blood. It should be enough for him to live out a mortal lifetime and a charm here or there. He recalls the skeletons of whales and thinks of taking a bone or two. Enough to carve out charms for times of need. It isn’t the kind of power he wants to delve into unless it’s necessary. It’s what he’s had left after detaching himself from the void.

This whole scenario feels like a dream. It is as if he is floating, his mind distant from his body as he drifts further away with his thoughts. Out of all the years he’d observed, out of all the people to see again, he manages to wash up on the beach of a town in the same time where Corvo exists and he’s the person that found him first. His dear Corvo always had a way of finding him whether it be in the void or at his shrines, he’s glad that it still hopes up.

His, no, the Corvo that exists here, in this time, is scrawny but there’s still muscle being built. Corvo seems like he could be around fifteen years of age, almost sixteen but he still has that crooked smile that Kier remembers.

The door opens and the sounds startles him back to the present. When Corvo asks him if he’s okay, all Kier can do is offer him a shy smile and reply with a breathless _yes_.

Because things are okay so far and looking up.

Because he is too.

 

* * *

 

_…but after the end comes a new beginning._

**Author's Note:**

> Kier in Irish – small dark one
> 
> Originally I thought about what would happen when Corvo dies and then this came. There's a sequel in the works and it'll take some time. This piece can be taken as gen or romance. I'm not the writer type but I had to share this. I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
